Sony and Microsoft's Secret Weapon

Normally everything is up for grabs at the start of a new console generation. Loyalty goes out the window and gamers go for the console with the cheapest price tag and best launch line-up. We all know someone who was a diehard PS2 fan, but now his or her console of choice is the Xbox 360. Brand loyalty was so easy to abandon back then, but not anymore. Here’s one simple reason Xbox gamers won’t convert to PlayStation next generation, and vice versa.

I would love it if they let us migrate xbl/psn accounts to new consoles. I have easily about $750/800 on psn(dynamic themes/avatars and games) and another $400 on xbl not including $99yr xbl sub. for 4 accounts.

They should. If they don't it will be a massive fail. When you buy stuff off of Steam and iTunes it stays with your account regardless if you upgrading your computer or buying other hardware. Of course certain content on iTunes such as some games and apps are only functional on supported devices. I don't see why XBLA and PSN games can't continue on to new systems. It will be full Xbox 360 games on demand and full PS3 games that have some worried. That is why backwards compatible hardware is the way to go.

The article does make a good point and that is some people feel like they are held hostage staying with certain services because of all the content they bought. That's why it's hard for some IOS users to dump Apple and go with something like Android. Same thing with PSN and Live, some people have been members for years and to drop all the history and friends you've made is a tough decision.

What makes you think you cannot migrate your xbox-live account to the new xbox coming out next year? I migrated my xbox live account to the 360 when it came out. Today it is ten times easier to do 360 console to 360 console. Games including xbla, themes, and avatars can all be redownloaded from subscription download history. If they are compatible with the new xbox, there should not be a single problem. Every xbox gamer who has bought a new 360 should know this and expect it. This article is ignoring history of the xbox, and xbox 360 account transfer. Xbla was not available during the initial launch of xbox live.

Isn't it obvious? If you build up an empire of achievements/Trophies a great community of friends. And most importantly, a huge back catalogue of games. I'm pretty sure You would want to continue your gaming career on your respective console.

it's not really a big deal if you think about it. achievments and trophies are really not important at all, you don't need them to have fun with the same game. as for online friends it's nice to have but also not really a must i can make new online friends everywhere. not super hard at all. just the games you may have bought online that's the biggest factor that will help me make my choice in choosing my next console. that is if it's worth it to keep them plus they will always be there on your previous console

Some of the people on my FL I've known for almost 10 years now. I would not just dump them for a new console. Fuck, some of them stood up in my wedding and one was my best man. Friends are friends regardless of where or when you met. Pretty sad that some of you would just dump them because "OMGZ ps4 is sexies came out". Would not want to be your friend.

it's good for you that you have known them for that long, but you like the companies would like you to think you need their service to stay friends with each other. i don't need my ps3 to make friends it is really fun to get to know new people but i have other means for it. That's why i don't have the need to stay loyal to a certain company and to keep my choices open for the best choice. Plus if you are so good friend like you say for almost 10 years and more then you must have other means to connect to them like your mobile phone.

I just want to point out keep your options wide open you will benifits the most from that and don't let companies make that choice for you

You don't really have to dump them though. Just may not have them on your gaming account anymore. It's silly to think that if you have friends that went to your wedding that you would suddenly not be their friend because of a game console, or any other real friend you have. Sometimes it's hard to severe those ties with random people you made friends with and socialize with, but in the end you have to do what is best to you, and if those people are important enough to you you find another way to stay in touch.

That being said, one should never discount the power of a loyalty program or social service, such as XBL, MiiVerse, PSN. They have powerful psychological holds on a lot of people, and people have a lot of time vested into their accounts. If you have ever played WOW, you know how hard it can be to leave a guild, or simply quit playing. Or it can be as simple as a supermarket loyalty program. People get invested in it, and it builds this psychological need for people to continue going there (along with some other marketing stuff).

@the article I do think it is way under-estimating the effects that brand loyalty has on consumers. Brand loyalty plays a major role for these companies when their next systems come out. Not everyone that is loyal to a brand is blindly loyal, in fact most are not. That loyalty is built through years of providing a product that those people enjoyed, and would like to continue enjoying in the future.

Friends can exist on more than one online platform. Some like to play more than one platform. Its not unnatural to see this happen. Likely if I preferred a new console that my friends did not and they like playing with me they might consider a purchase of said console at some point and vice versa for me considering their next console purchase as well. Depends on who holds more pull in the friendship if its locked to only one console purchase.

That is never the case though. As we are free to own as many consoles as we want or well Computers/Macs, etc. If the money exists.

If either XBOX or PSN trophies did not carry over into next gen, there will be a lot of people switching sides. I don't think either of the 2 big companies would risk that.

I think achievements need to be improved (coming from an achievement and trophy hunter), as the Gamerscore does not mean crap. Some of the impossible achievements are worth 5gs, and some super easy achievements (like those in Avatar TLA, take about 10 mins all up) are worth hundreds, some as much as 500gs.

out of xbl and psn. psn seems less likely to migrate. MS seems to be pushing hard for xbl to be in everything..console/pc/tablet and smartphones with the smart glass app. but only time will tell. ok before you disagree what has sony done or said that makes you think psn is making a new transition to ps4.

well if rumors are true gakai will play a big part with backwards compatibility. supposedly we'll be able to stream ps1/2/3/vita classics to playstation certified devices. but of course im sure even if its true licensing issues will arrive and we'll get drip fed titles over time.

PSN is currently available on 3 platforms...the PSP, Vita, and PS3. What makes you think that it wouldn't migrate? They're already including Vita support on the PS3 for PSN, and vice versa. Currently the only thing that isn't supported is a shared friends list between the two, and I guess PS Home.

Whether or not PS3 downloaded games will continue to work on the PS4 is not known since we can only speculate on BC. All the other downloadable content should work the same.

everything you did in the last 6 years on Playstation was a waste; trophies,avatars,purchased content,all of it gone. You start again because 2013 onwards is borrowed time...the Mayan calendar dictates that all future consoles be completely based upon wild speculation.

The reason the PS3 doesn't have cross game chat is due to the system resources (RAM, CPU) it may use. Because of the way games are published on consoles, they couldn't add it in later as it would not be possible while playing some games and the publishers don't like that (it may make their game seem worse than another, because it needs like 1MB more RAM sometimes and cross game chat wouldn't be available. Also, I'm not entirely sure how the memory is divided but many games will be programmed with specific memory addresses - which is one of the good things about making a game for consoles, adding in cross game chat would have likely messed with that). It will be in the PS4 for sure, as it'll be there at launch and of course the machine will be plenty powerful enough, it barely takes any processing power or RAM anyway. Anyway, it has nothing to do with the networking (a lot of people mention cross game chat being why XBL is better).

Other than that, it's just menus and style preferences really. The money paid for XBL mostly goes directly into profit, the costs of multiplayer backbone and development time is barely a drop in the ocean. Maybe $5 per customer was actually spent on XBL, it's not expensive; Sony aren't cutting any corners to be able to make it free. Loads of different PC (and mobile phone) games have entire systems similar to XBL just for 1 game, it's a very simple thing to engineer really (one decent programmer can make a pretty reasonable job of it to be honest). And the developers/publishers still have to run supporting servers (still pretty cheap for a AA or AAA game, low tens of thousands of dollars in total - lowering as less people play the game) for extra multiplayer features of their game on either console, they don't see a penny of XBL fees.

I would like to see better 'triggers' on the PS4 controller (though those clip-ons do a very good job), or perhaps a 2nd slightly different/larger controller for western hands being available. If MS still require proprietary junk for charging etc. theirs will still be flat out worse simply due to that, vendor locking is how MS's business works. I also think that both controllers could do with an extra button or 2, I don't really have an opinion for what the best way to include them would be though.

Articles like this make me feel weird for not being a loyalist. I spend money on all my accounts and use all of them when the time calls. I have Halo friends, PS3 loyalist friends, PC friends, and now even Wii U friends. I feel like sticking to one company only hurts you as a gamer. There lots of great communities out there and tons of exclusive games. Baseless prejudice against a brand is dumb. If you had a bad experience okay but don't aide with a console for no reason.